Thai Festivals and celebrations are always an amazing and unique experience to be a part of. Thai people love to celebrate, sing and dance to crazy Thai song any opportunity they get and they are always happy and welcoming to everyone.
I’ve been lucky enough to experience many of the traditions and celebrations in Thailand over the years and here are the 3 festivals you should mark in your calendar next time you visit Thailand.
1. Songkran Festival (mostly 13-15th April)
2. Loi Krathong (November)
3. Vegetarian festival in Phuket (October)
1. Songkran Festival (13-15th April)
Songkran festival is celebrated all over Thailand and it marks the beginning of Thai New Year. The official festival takes place from 13th-15th April, but in some regions, the celebration starts already on 12th and lasts for over a week.
Songkran is a Buddhist holiday celebrated not only in Thailand but other Asian countries such as Myanmar and Laos.
It’s my favorite day of the year and if you are in Thailand, make sure you join the fun and celebration.
Traditionally in the morning of 13th, families, and friends visit local temples where they join in merit making. They offer food to the Buddhist monks and pour water over Buddha statue and the young and the eldest, which is the traditional ritual. It symbolizes purification, blessing and washing off one’s bad luck and sins.
After that everybody joins in a celebration which is basically a massive water fight.
In bigger cities, the major roads are usually closed off and people celebrate, dance and sing across the whole town.
People wear colorful or traditional Thai clothes and use chalk or white powder which is used by monks to mark blessing.
Songkran is an amazing day dancing to Thai songs and celebrating with friends and family or a random people you just met.
Songkran celebrations in Koh Phi Phi
On the small islands such as Koh Phi Phi, Koh Mook or Koh Lipe, the celebration is intense but lasts only one day as the water is precious on the islands.
So get up early and join the fun. The town center the Irish Bar is usually the epicenter of all action. Don’t be grumpy if you get soaked in the water if you wish to avoid the celebration you can stay in your resort or avoid the main streets.
Grumpier you get more people will make you their target. This happens once a year and I say if you can’t beat them join them.
- Expect to get soaked in (often ice cold) water, have your body covered in a white chalk powder, get splashed by red and green colored water and very likely thrown into a water bucket or the sea.
- Don’t wear anything fancy as it all gets soaked and ruined, make sure your phone has waterproof cover or better yet, leave it at home.
- It is best to wear some eye cover of glasses as some less intelligent people will shoot you straight into your face/eyes and ears.
If you want to go crazy you can join the celebration in Phuket, Patong’s Bangla Road, Chiang Mai or Khao San Road in Bangkok.
The only downfall of this festival is the high rate of motorbike accidents. As much as the Thai government is aware of this problem and sets up more checkpoints, the accident rates are still very high. So unless you have to, don’t drive around this time.
2. Loi Krathong (November)
Loi Krathong is a light festival celebrated all over Thailand but the biggest celebration is in Chiang Mai, where you can also witness the release of hundreds of lanterns.
The date of the festival is different each year, it’s celebrated in the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar.
Usually, it falls in November on the full moon. In Chang Mai, the festival usually lasts three days, everywhere else one day.
Kratong means a type of a basket or a container and it represents the floating homemade baskets people traditionally make on Loi Krathong.
The baskets are made from the banana tree trunk and banana leaves held together with pins and decorated with flowers.
People make this floating kratong and let them put to the sea, river or pond while they make a wish. Floaters usually include a candle, burning insents and a coin for a good luck.
In Koh Phi Phi the celebration takes place around 7-9pm at the main pier.
Good news is in the last few years people trying to be more Eco-friendly and make bread krathongs which will resolve in the water and can be eaten by fish instead of polluting water.
In Chiang Mai, Loi Krathong is usually celebrated by releasing sky lanterns in the area around Ping River between the Nakornping Bridge and the Iron Bridge.
Tip: If you are thinking already that you would like to be in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong book your domestic flights and accommodation yesterday. The flights, trains, and buses get sold out each year, weeks before the festival starts and all hotels get full.
3. Vegetarian festival in Phuket (October)
Don’t be fooled by the name like I was when I first heard about the festival. I’m vegetarian so I was very excited to attend this festival little did I know that there will be people piercing their tongues, cheeks, and other parts of the body with sharp knives and other household items.
The Vegetarian festival also known as Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Phuket is celebrated in October in Phuket Town and usually goes on for a week. It’s a fascinating festival to watch so if you get the chance to be in Phuket at the beginning of October make sure you go and check it out.
The festival celebrates the Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and other things like alcohol and sex during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help keep health and give them peace of mind.
Vegetarian festival is definitely not meant for a faint-hearted, part of the celebration is people walking on a hot coal or climbing ladder made of knives in trance, piercing various body parts, mostly cheeks, and other self-mortification in or order to purify themselves.
This colorful festival take place in the vicinity of the six Chinese temples scattered throughout Phuket. Apart from gruesome celebration acts, there are many food stalls where you can try the delicious vegetarian food.
Be careful of the firecrackers or bring some earplug, many people get injured each year not from the ceremonies but accidents from the firecrackers. So stay away to enjoy the festival injury free.
In here you can find out the exact dates and program of the festival.
